The latest technology has enabled many things to “do it yourself” from small toys to actual cars, small home appliances to commercial equipment. Websites are not left behind when it comes to DIY. Because of the low cost and easiness, many people tend to use a DIY service to build their websites. But does it worth using a DIY service to build your website? Let me describe why you should not use a DIY service.
Many of the DIY websites is slow when compared with the website built by a professional web developer. It is because of extra code generated by the DIY service and the technology used to automatically create the website. Sometimes the webservers which host these websites are slow compared with professional hosting services.
The speed of a website is a major ranking factor for search engines like Google and Yahoo. DIY website can be ranked lower due to the slow speed. It is also not good for the website visitor experience. No one will wait for a website to load if it is loading slowly since most of the users experience high-speed internet now. If you are running a business website built with a DIY service, there is a big chance that you will lose some of your potential customers/clients.
It is true that you will get a cool interface to configure and build your DIY website easily for a low price compared to a website built for a professional service. But the downside is you don’t have any control over it when it comes to custom modifications and hosting. You are restricted to use pre-set layouts and styles with limited server resources. It is also not guaranteed that any information sent through the website (ex. a contact form submitted) is fully secured.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is a key factor to rank well in search results for a website. If your website is developed by a professional web developer, it is SEO ready and all the configurations are done when the website is delivered to you. If you use a DIY service to build your website, you must know how SEO works, latest trends, outdated practices and how to make the website SEO ready. You will have to configure the website once it is built. If this is not done correctly, your website will rank lower.
DIY website design services host thousands of sites in the same web server which will load the website when you type the web address in your favorite web browser. If the server was shut down or hacked because of a fault in another website that is hosted on the same web server that your website is hosted, your website will go offline also. You don’t have any control over it even you want to take it back online. You will have to wait until the issue is fixed by the DIY service. This will be a bad experience for your website visitors. There is a great chance that you will lose potential customers/clients if you sell online or provide a professional service through your website.
DIY websites are automatically generated according to pre-configured instructions once you complete the design process from the drag and drop interface. These systems can keep the same technology used for these generated websites for a very long time since it costs a lot to change the system to adhere to new technology. Web development technologies improve and change in a fast phase. Search engines like Google change their search patterns to facilitate the latest technology. Therefore, it is possible that a website built with DIY service is outdated and not ranked well by the search engines.
I assume that now you can understand the other side of DIY website building services. Most of the time these factors are not made public and people decide to use these services mainly because of the ease and price. But in the long term, it won’t do any good. If you like to discuss your website design or development project with us, please contact us to receive a FREE initial consultation.
